the osu friend I have said most of the fanbase though Haskins was better and was going to be the backup anyways. They even have some of the same thoughts re Haskins that people at Michigan have of Peters where they think he has a hgher ceileing and prefer him over JT Barrett so I don't think this is a big loss for them.

Why any sane OSU fan would want someone other than JT starting is beyond my comprehension. The guy has won a lot of games. He is also a senior with much experience. That is extremely difficult to replace.

You haven't heard? Most Buckeye fans think they are a losing team because they only have one national championship and one big ten title. Come on Urban, Nick Saban has 6 national titles and Jim Tressel had aton of big ten titles! You better get your stuff together man!

and yet he still has won a shit ton of games. Look, I hate OSU and Meyer, but Meyer is a brilliant coach. He knows JT is limited with what he can do, but develops a game plan around his skills and it works.

Becase Haskins has a big arm and after the michigan, psu, and clemson games last year they want to see a guy who can complete a pass more than 10 yards downfield leading the offense. It's the same reason people don't like Speight. They don't give him credit for the easy wins, point to poor performance against elite defenses (and psu) in losses and see him as the reason their offense didn't perform.

The backup QB is always the most popular guy on every team that isn't winning a national championship. If bama loses to FSU I gaurantee you'll see people calling for Tua to start over Hurts.

JT is for sure a quality player more than capable of managing the game and making a few plays, particularly with his feet. However, he is not a guy that strikes fear in defenses IMO. I've never seen him do the sort of things his predecessors did that made them unstopable like Pryor or a Troy Smith. He's a more reliable thrower than Braxton was, but less dynamic with his feet.

With a strong d-line on our side, I'm not too worried he'll beat us with his arm and our d-line will be good enough to prevent him from beating us with his feet. Guys like Troy Smith made great throws in tight coverage that JT can't and Pryor made great plays with his feet that JT can't. I think good defenses can limit his offense so long as they don't have a dynamic back like Elliot, which they don't any longer. I'm sure they'll have another Samuels-like guy, but that won't be enough to sustain drives against good defenses IMO.

that every time a conversation is had with an OSU fan about something that could potentially be a negative for their program there response is always "well the backup to the backup was actually better" or "well we weren't really puruing that 4* that hard" or "that 3rd year starter was on the verge of getting his job taken away by a true freshman anyways." At least this is my experience with them. I guess when you have had such a long string of good luck you just forget what it feels like to have bad luck.

Luck (good or bad) is more a perception than anything else, so I am pretty sure I am not going to change any "perspective" you have on this, but let me just ask you a few questions. Would losing your 1st and 2nd string QBs and then having your 3rd string QB lead you to a National Championship (now knowing he is more than likely a bust in the NFL) constitute as having some good luck on your side? Would losing an elite coach in Tressel, having your co-defensive coordinator take over for an entire year and then this all happen a year after another elite coach in Meyer just happens to step away from Florida constitute as having some good luck on your side? Does being the only team in 3 years to not win your conference nor even make your conference championship but still make the playoffs constitute a little luck on your side? If you want me to go on, I would be glad to. My original point is that I honestly believe Buckeye fans have been immune to a string of bad luck for several years now that when something comes up that could be a bad thing, their response is always that the next man up is actually better or they didn't really want that recruit anyways. I realize all programs act like this to an extant, but this is my experience with all Buckeye fans. Your first response to my comment defined my experience perfectly with all Buckeye fans.

Question 1: No. It's not luck OSU recruits and develops talent at an elite level, and has a coaching staff and offensive system that's extremely good at churning out good college QBs and emphasizing and scheming them into good positions. Furthermore, most drafted QBs are "busts," especially third rounders. Don't know how anyone can write Cardale off yet, he's been in the league for one year. The chances of him ever being a starter were extremely low to begin with.

Question 2: I suppose it's fortunate timing Urban Meyer was available when he was (same can be said for the circumstances surrounding Michigan hiring Harbaugh), but Meyer was an Ohio Guy whose coaching mentor was OSU's coach in the '80s and he further had contractual outs to OSU at Florida. It could have just as easily been a matter of when not if Urban ever coached the Buckeyes. Besides, it's rather unlucky OSU had to fire its second most successful coach of all time because his players committed NCAA violations everyone now unanimously agrees are insane (selling your own stuff for cash?).

Question 3: No, OSU making the playoff last year was not luck. It was a combination of OSU's well earned reputation, a dominating win over OU, a win over Michigan and our only loss being a fluke loss to PSU, combined with PSU having double the amount of losses as OSU. If PSU only lost once, they're in. If PSU beat OSU in a way that didn't involving blocking two kicks in the 4th quarter for 10 points, they're in. If PSU didn't get housed by Michigan, they're in. They didn't because they were a worse team than OSU and everyone knows it. That's not luck either.

To your final point, when was the last time OSU fans were wrong about that stuff? OSU is reloading 1st round picks on a one-for-one basis nowadays. They're going from Vonn Bell to Malik Hooker. Ryan Shazier to Darron Lee. Joey Bosa to Nick Bosa. They literally are turning away 4 stars to sign 5 stars at the same position. That's all happening. Like I said, what are you expecting OSU fans to say? They're not wrong.

You had me until "well earned reputation". The apologism for the PSU loss (on the field, you may recall) where they apparently "developed talent at an elite level" enough to block not one, but two kicks in the fourth quarter for ten points is pathetic.

I guess "on field" results matter when tOSU beat Michigan but not when tOSU lost to the eventual B1G Champion.

Thanks man, I needed a good laugh today. Solid work.

Honestly, I actually laughed out loud (as opposed to just typing LOL).

close wins and close losses are regarded differently. He didn't mention that his squad was lucky to beat Michigan...lucky that the refs called an absurdly low number of penalties against a sieve offensive line facing the best defens in the nation, with 11 NFL players on it. Luck that JT was called for a first down..when it isn't as obvious as Buckeye fans would have you think. But their lack of preparation against PSU was a fluke. It wasn't a fluke...offense was subpar and stagnant, and unable to punch it in, Meyer got conservative as he occasionally does in big games, and Penn State put their starters on special teams because they noticed a lack of effort from the special teams "reserves" and freshmen who play ST for Ohio State.

First of all, yes, OSU's national reputation is well earned. And it's higher than any program's right now, save Alabama. Going into last year's playoff (which is the context of my comment), they had lost 5 games in 6 years with a national championship and an undefeated season included in the run. If you don't think those accomplishments were well earned or played a large part in OSU getting picked for the 2016 CFP over PSU (and OU), idk what to tell you. Clearly OSU's national benefit of the doubt under Urban mattered then, and is/was not rooted in luck. Losing to Clemson 31-0 hurts that benefit of the doubt going forward, of course, but remember, the context of my statement was pre-Clemson.

Second, shockingly, I'm not the only person who thinks 2016 PSU's win over OSU was a fluke, or that they were an inferior team to 2016 OSU. If everyone else thought PSU was better than OSU they would have made the playoff over OSU. But no one outside of HV thought that, in large part because we all watched PSU lose twice, get clobbered by a Michigan team OSU beat, and saw PSU get outgained by OSU 2-to-1 at home and win the game on a blocked FG ran back for a TD. I don't need to apologize for the PSU loss, it was 100% irrelevant to the outcome of OSU's season. They could beat OSU every year for the next 100 as long as we go to the playoff over them still, and I don't care at all.

Third, are you really arguing OSU doesn't develop talent at an elite level? Please tell me you are arguing that.

I'm glad you got a good chuckle while reminding yourself of all the times and reasons OSU has been better than Michigan lately. I'm laughing too, if it makes you feel better. You'd think after all these years you'd give up your trademark condescension when you reply to me, but you continue to plug along and get owned anyway.

I mean, you didn't even acknowlege the Penn State loss (on the field, right?). To quote you: "it was 100% irrelevant to the outcome of OSU's season". So, to summarize, a) it was a fluke and b) it basically didn't matter.

is making it that much more enjoyable to look forward to our winning the next ten against you, as you spend every playoff hating yourself because you can't stop secretly wanting us to win it all so that you can feel a little bit validated after getting your annual thrashing.

I mean when is the last time they've been wrong about that? I guess their receivers for the last couple of years have kind of sucked but they've been to the playoffs two out of three years with a natty despite constantly replacing large quantities of players. Its incredibly annoying but its also been true the entire time Meyer has been their coach.

I didn't think they had declared a back-up yet. In fact on that Notorious BIG podcast that someone posted a week or so ago (and again thumbs up to that person, was a great listen), they OSU guys said Meyer wouldn't declare a 2nd string because he doesn't want the other guy to transfer.

They both were throwing darts in the spring game. Very small sample, too small to base conclusions, but both looked like much more accurate passers than Barrett.

Insiders have been saying that Burrow had been cemented in as the backup. Harbaugh tried to flip him to the good guys when he first arrived here. Sounds like whoever lost out on backup planned to transfer, so if that's Burrow due to injury, then I would expect him to take his talents down to Athens, OH.

Funny. But I don't understand why everyone is now calling Martell the 3rd string. Following what happened with Cardale Jones, Dwayne Haskins would still be the #3 QB. JT - 1; Burrow - 2; Haskins - 3. Burrow getting injured moves Haskins to 2, just like Miller getting injured moved Jones to 2.